het Dutch · revision 37074

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=901–1000, Wachtendonck Psalms|origins=ine-pro *h₁id}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Belgium: /(ɦ)ət/, /t/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Netherlands, unstressed: /(ɦ)ət/^(Wiktionary)

+ * Netherlands: /t/, /ɦɛt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''het''' (neuter; unstressed also '''’t''', spoken /ət/ or /t/)^(WNT)^(EWN)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|dum|het]], [[inh|odt|it]], [[inh|gem-pro|*it]], a pronoun found in all the Germanic languages.^(EWN)^(Wiktionary) The same pronoun is [[osx|it]], [[goh|iz]] (modern [[de|es]]), [[ofs|hit]], [[ang|hit]] (modern [[en|it]]), [[non|hit]] and [[got|𐌹𐍄𐌰|tr=ita]].^(EWN)^(De Vries 1971) The initial /h/ is a later addition of the North Sea Germanic area, probably an old demonstrative particle, which was also put before the stem in [[hij]], [[hem]], [[haar]] and [[hun]].^(EWN)^(Franck & Van Wijk 1912) The Wachtendonck Psalms mostly write the form without it, because the inland dialect of their reviser did not use the /h/ here.^(EWN)

+

+ Indo-European had no separate third-person pronoun, and this one goes back to a demonstrative: [[ine-pro|*h₁id]] is the neuter nominative of [[ine-pro|*h₁e-]], and the same form is [[la|id|t=that]], [[sa|इदम्|tr=idám|t=this]] and [[sga|ed|t=it]].^(EWN)^(Kroonen 2013)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ As an article, the word has another source: the old neuter article was [[dat]], which weakened to /t/ or /ət/ when unstressed.^(EWN) Since this short form sounded like the clitic form of the pronoun, writers took it for the pronoun and began to write the article in the same way.^(EWN)^(WNT)^(De Vries 1971)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The pronoun is first recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century,^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001) where a speaker says ''Ik uuanda that ik it kende'', “I thought that I knew it”.^(ONW) The article ''het'' appears in Middle Dutch texts of the late 14th century: ''in het ghemeen convente'', “in the whole community of the monastery” (1370), and ''het ghestant'', “the state, condition” (1380).^(EWN)^(MNW)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle Dutch the full article ''dat'' slowly went out of use, and the short form, written ''het'' or ''’t'', took its place.^(EWN)^(WNT) Frings argued that the article already existed in the 12th century, because the Fläming area in Germany, settled by Dutch colonists at that time, has an article ''het''.^(EWN) The use of ''het'' as an article is typically Dutch: German ''es'' and English ''it'' are still only pronouns, and the Frisian spelling ''it'' for both may be a parallel development or the result of Dutch influence.^(EWN)

+

+ In speech the unstressed forms /ət/ and /t/ have remained the norm.^(EWN)^(Van Haeringen 1936) Early modern writers still used ''’t'' in elevated writing, while in the second half of the 20th century ''’t'' came to be kept for rendering the spoken language.^(EWN) The pronoun is also used without a clear referent in many verbal phrases, such as ''het druk hebben'', “to be busy”, and ''het uithouden'', “to hold out”.^(MNW)^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ The pronoun lives on in Jersey Dutch.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 901–1000 – The pronoun ''it'' is recorded in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1237 – Middle Dutch ''het'' appears in a charter from Ghent.^(VMNW)

+ * 1370 – ''Het'' is first recorded as an article.^(EWN)^(Van der Sijs 2001)

+ * 1573 – Plantijn lists both forms, ''het'' and ''idt''.^(WNT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|it]]: the third-person singular neuter personal pronoun, as subject.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # It, as object.^(Van Dale 2014)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An [[m|en|impersonal]] subject or object: ''het regent'', “it is raining”.^(Wiktionary)^(MNW)

+

+ ===Article===

+ # [[m|en|the]]: the [[m|en|definite article]] before neuter singular nouns: ''het huis'', “the house”.^(Van Dale 2014)^(ANW)

+ # (stressed) The best or most important of its kind.^(Van Dale 2014)^(WNT)

+ # With an adjective or adverb, forming the [[m|en|superlative]]: ''het hardst'', “the hardest”.^(Van Dale 2014)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hetzij]]

+ * [[hetgeen]]

+ * [[hetwelk]]

+ * [[hetzelfde]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dat]]

+ * [[hij]]

+ * [[en|it]]

+ * [[de|es]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Belgium the spelling pronunciation /hət/ is common.^(EWN) In curses the pronoun stands for something unpleasant left unnamed, as in ''krijg het!'' and ''bekijk het maar!''.^(Van Sterkenburg 2001)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}